Welllpoint, Aetna to House panel: Effects of Obamacare are not so dire

By Russ Britt

A hearing before the Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday backfired on GOP leaders as health insurers, summoned to appear before the panel, didn’t report that Obamacare had a starkly negative effect on business like the representatives expected.

Bloomberg

Several news outlets reported that insurers told the panel those who signed up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act were indeed paying their premiums at rates of more than 80%. That contrasts with the 67% rate that House members reported recently.

The New York Times also pointed out there were other aspects of Obamacare that ran contrary to Republican interests, as insurers also said the law hasn’t led to a government takeover of their companies. Insurers also wouldn’t agree that large increases in insurance premiums will come next year, saying instead they don’t have enough data. They added that federal subsidies already were rolling in to cover some of the premiums.

“These companies were not the biggest supporters of the law,” the Times quoted Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat from Illinois as saying. “They still oppose many provisions, but they do not live in a Republican echo chamber. They live in the real world.”

Insurers, however, weren’t all positive on Obamacare, the Times added. A new tax on insurance providers was a sore subject, and those costs will be passed on to policyholders, they said. Further, there remain technical issues with the online insurance exchange on the back end that is making it difficult for the government and insurers to reconcile their records.

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